The Fracture Within
Kang Yujun wore a grave expression.
‘That crack inside her head… what exactly is it? It’s incredibly dense and deep.’
It looked like a problem that had persisted for quite some time.
‘Red light is even leaking out of it.’
The red glow, opposite to the blue, suggested an injury severe enough to surpass the crack itself.
‘It might even be life-threatening.’
“When did this headache first appear?”
Yu Jena hesitated briefly before answering.
“It’s been a long time. Over ten years.”
She studied his reaction as she spoke. She had never once let anyone know about her headaches. Until now, no trainer had ever noticed them before she mentioned them herself.
“I see. So you adopted that training method to eliminate the headaches.”
“Yes. I signed a contract with a personal trainer. He’s from the Blue Guild……”
She explained how she had learned the training method. Kang Yujun nodded as he listened.
‘It’s definitely a method only an S-class like Yu Jena could use.’
But this was not the kind of training meant for long-term use.
“This training session doesn’t seem designed with long-term training in mind.”
“……!”
“……In that case, may I examine you first?”
At his words, Yu Jena nodded.
‘I’m not sure if it’ll work.’
Activating Awakened Scan!
Shaaaaaaaak—!
Her body turned transparent in an instant. At the same time, a sharp pain stabbed at his eyes.
‘Ugh.’
The pain was intense enough to draw a groan.
Awakened Scan failed.
The light of the Focus skill is fading.
Currently, Kang Yujun could only see up to A-class awakened beings.
‘If it were Lim Seokjae, I’d be able to see everything.’
An S-class awakened was on an entirely different level.
Still, it wasn’t as if he saw nothing at all.
‘It’s faintly visible.’
Awakened Scan was impossible. Instead, the effect of the Focus skill allowed him to see her in a hazy outline.
‘I can see the crack, the blue light, and the red light. I’ll have to reason from there.’
It was an extremely difficult task.
But at the same time, it was fascinating.
‘This is the real thrill.’
Training had always been about piercing through everything with only small pieces of information.
‘A training regimen that gnaws away at an S-class awakened.’
The injury caused by that training.
‘It’s also training meant to eliminate her chronic headaches.’
Information unfolded rapidly in Kang Yujun’s mind, then began rising like arrows. Dozens narrowed to a dozen, then to just a few.
And then—
Light surged upward and converged into one.
‘Overload.’
It wasn’t a simple overload.
‘This isn’t ordinary overload. This is……’
He connected it to the crack inside her head.
‘Mana panic?’
The most important thing for an awakened was mana.
The higher an awakened’s rank rose, the harder mana became to control.
‘When something that used to work suddenly doesn’t, you naturally pour more power into it.’
That was where problems arose.
‘Overload occurs naturally, and things that used to work well start failing.’
Mental issues could follow.
That was mana panic.
Like hyperventilation, it meant channeling mana so intensely that overload occurred.
Thanks to that, the mana moved and the headaches disappeared, but new problems inevitably followed.
‘At least it seemed to have an effect.’
The training session itself wasn’t wrong.
‘I need to see it first.’
He had to observe exactly how she had been training.
“Yu Jena, that training method is dangerous.”
At his words, Yu Jena took a deep breath.
So he was just like the others after all.
“Your training method is correct. To solve your current problem, that method is the right one. You’re an S-class awakened, after all. No one understands your own training method better than you do.”
“……Yes?”
But Kang Yujun gave the exact opposite answer from what she expected.
She had assumed he would say her training was the cause, that it had ruined her body and injured the others.
That was how the Neverland Guild’s trainers had judged it.
They simply hadn’t spoken up because they were wary of offending an S-class like her. If she got angry and left Neverland, it would be a disaster.
But Yu Jena wasn’t the type to storm out in a fit of rage.
Neverland Guild was the place where she had been born and raised. From her youth until she reached this position, she had received endless support from Neverland.
That was why she had been filled with anger.
Yet Kang Yujun was different.
He spoke with genuine conviction.
‘Yu Jena’s training method isn’t wrong.’
Now he needed to identify the problem precisely.
‘To train her, I have to see her training method.’
And he had to pinpoint exactly where the cracks were forming, and even reach the core of the fracture inside her head.
‘I can’t just give her a rough lesson and call it done.’
He would have to use everything he had.
“Could you show it to me once?”
“Hmm……”
After a moment of hesitation, Yu Jena ignited flames around her body.
Whoosh—.
Her ability was a flame-type power known as Volcano.
It was an intense flame force that erupted like a real volcano, far more powerful than most similar flame abilities. Its destructive power was unmatched, and it was renowned for flames capable of burning even lightning.
‘It’s in a completely different league from Ignition.’
Volcano was, in fact, a higher form of Kim Minseok’s Ignition ability.
‘If Kim Minseok simply ignites parts of his body,’
Yu Jena’s power allowed her to concentrate flames into a single point and move them freely as she wished.
For example—
Whoosh—!
In an instant, she created a sword made entirely of flame.
Then she swung it.
Shwaaak—!
The flame sword traced a beautiful arc. She continuously released or swung flames in rapid succession.
Kang Yujun’s eyes widened.
Focus level insufficient.
Focus level insufficient.
Focus Lv.2 was not enough to see through her movements.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Focus skill proficiency has increased!
The Focus skill was merely a supplementary technique.
Kang Yujun had always possessed excellent vision to begin with.
With that vision, he clearly observed her movements and mana flow. Even if it appeared hazy, he could still perceive it.
‘Even with small pieces of information, I can see through it.’
His mind raced furiously.
Every time she moved, the hazy mana flow entered his mind and merged with the information he already possessed.
Whoosh—!
Shwaaak—!
“……!”
Right now, something was wrong.
The moment the flames erupted, a tiny explosion occurred within her mana roads.
‘That’s it.’
Along with the Awakened Training System, Kang Yujun’s senses immediately caught the anomaly.
‘The previous Neverland trainers must have sensed something was off too. But because it was so small, they couldn’t pinpoint it.’
Yet they would never have discovered the reason.
‘That’s the cause.’
Yu Jena’s training method involved overloading and intermittently destroying her mana roads.
Just as muscles were torn and regenerated, she was using a method of momentarily tearing and regenerating her mana roads.
That was how she was strengthening them.
‘She has a large amount of mana, but her mana roads are too weak to handle it. Is that what she thought?’
This was probably not the trainer’s idea.
‘It must have been Yu Jena’s.’
She had likely developed this training method through another trainer, and based on it, the Neverland Guild trainers had created new training sessions.
The point they had overlooked was shock absorption rate.
‘Yu Jena recovers from tearing and regenerating her mana roads extremely quickly. In other words, the incident happened because her shock absorption rate is different.’
Yu Jena could endure the damage and recovery from this training, but other awakened could not.
‘It’s dangerous.’
This method was far too risky.
Mana roads required a considerable amount of time to recover once damaged.
‘There are cases where they never recover at all.’
If mana roads were mishandled, that area might become completely unusable for mana.
‘Mana roads aren’t like muscles.’
Even if they healed, they wouldn’t become stronger than before. There was no guarantee they would return to normal either.
Shaaaaak—.
She moved again.
Crackle—. Crackle—.
Crunch—.
With a thunderous roar, her flames grew even fiercer, and the mana throughout her body howled.
Volcano.
The erupting force began spreading outward.
The surroundings grew hot.
The air became so scorching that breathing grew difficult.
Yet Kang Yujun never took his eyes off Yu Jena.
‘The crack is widening.’
The fracture inside her head grew larger, and the red light grew even more vivid.
‘Now.’
This was the moment.
This was the root of everything.
‘It’s definitely mana panic. The overload caused by it. That’s what made her mana roads swell and caused the problem.’
Kang Yujun was certain.
She was losing control while using mana far too excessively.
The resulting overload spread throughout her body and further aggravated the fracture inside her head.
‘It’s swelling.’
But it recovered quickly.
The overwhelming recovery power of an S-class awakened made this absurd training possible.
It was a training method only an S-class awakened like her could endure.
That was why Kang Yujun was convinced the training wasn’t wrong.
‘The direction is correct.’
If she didn’t have mana panic, this training would be an excellent method to maximize an S-class awakened’s recovery power and induce rapid growth.
‘Especially since that recovery power comes from her ability, Volcano.’
It could even be considered more stable.
‘A double-edged sword.’
It was an outstanding training method for rapid growth, but the worst in terms of safety.
Shaaaaak—.
Whoosh—.
Leaving behind residual heat, Yu Jena extinguished the flames.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
Contrary to her answer, Kang Yujun felt as if his insides were burning. Yu Jena had displayed an overwhelmingly powerful force. Watching it up close, he couldn’t help but be affected.
‘Huuu.’
Focus skill proficiency has greatly increased!
But thanks to it, his Focus skill proficiency had risen significantly.
‘Still can’t see it.’
An S-class awakened remained hazy.
However—
‘It’s a little less hazy now.’
Whether it could truly be called “less” was debatable, but for Kang Yujun, this was enough.
“……This must be difficult for you. Honestly, even I couldn’t figure it out. The trainer I personally hired said there was no other way besides this training method. In the end, it all depended on me.”
She had already given up long ago.
Because of their unique abilities, S-class awakened inevitably received minimal intervention from trainers.
Of course, trainers who specialized in S-class might be different.
But such trainers were hard to find.
“I found it.”
At Kang Yujun’s words, Yu Jena’s eyes widened.
“……Yes?”
“I can’t eliminate the headaches right away.”
At the very least—
“But I can improve that training method to suit you, Yu Jena.”
Kang Yujun spoke with a confident expression.
“A growth training session tailored specifically for you.”
In that moment, Yu Jena’s heart pounded violently.